Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Bam. We’re live.
Sevan Matossian (00:05):
One of those people who says I never get sick. I’ve never been sick. I’ve never been sick in my life. And I’m sick twice in a row. The hell’s going on. I woke up this morning again, like coughing up stuff. I could taste. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to, I, I was just looking at something that I’m trying to find again. Um, we have a home Depot in our area that caught on fire. Oh, there it is. There it is. We have a home Depot that, uh, good morning, Kevin. Good morning, Heidi. Good morning, Eric. I know you guys. Aren’t saying good morning to me. You’re saying good morning to all the crew. Amanda, Amanda stack. Brandon waddle. Wael waddle waa. Devesh Maraj good morning. Alex Peters. Corey. Jason, Mr. Bell housing.
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
Yeah. How crazy is that? How crazy is that? This, these pictures are nuts. Hey, if you’re a firefighter, this was a dream, right? Like all, all the firefighters. I know they, um, they sign it to be firefighters and then all they end up doing is, is going to old folks home and saving old people or saving fat people or, you know, it’s it’s or they got the frequent flyers. They’re just they’re. This is starting to get wound too wound up. I’m gonna have a guest today. If you guys don’t know who the guest is today, not a big deal, but you’re gonna be Stok as you learn about ’em holy cow, or you’re gonna hate yourself. Uh, look at that. It’s gone. It’s gone. Can you imagine like the section with like all the paints in it and all the stuff that was flamable all the WD 40 CBO CBO. It’s like a little boy’s wet dream to light a home Depot on fire. What are you talking about? Sevan? I’m just telling you the truth. Like that’s that’s like investigation continues into five alarm, home Depot fire in San Jose.
Sevan Matossian (02:09):
My goodness. Look at that thing. Who do they know how that started? I’m me. Uh, Christine. Why? Wow. I, I always trip on your avatar. It’s so serious. You’re like the, you look like, like the serious version of Dory from, um, um, finding Nemo. Uh, I mean, my husband is a firefighter. Most of the big ones are fought from outside, but how in the hell did no one put it out inside? Oh, I see what you mean. Like just run like the, they saw it and someone run over from the fire hydrant section and just spray it down. Hey you, I like the stories where they’re like, we had to cut a hole in the roof. Like no one went on the roof of this thing. Right? God, can you imagine this thing?
Sevan Matossian (02:54):
I have to guess? You could see this fire from my house, Christina. Why so serious? That’s a good question. We have her own as a guest. The lumber section. Yeah. That in a home Depot, that’s just kindling, right? I mean all the flamable stuff that explodes, I would just like to start a fire and throw like two cans of WD 40 in it and see what happens. How about a whole aisle of just flamable shit. It is our guest. Um, my wife just texted me. What’d you say? Uh, I had a dream. We were trying to find a place to have sex. No, that’s not a dream. That’s our life when you have three kids, but thank you. Good morning, babe. If you’re listening, normally I kiss her, um, before the show starts with my schedule, got all jacked up this morning because Mr. David Taylor had to postpone it by 10 minutes. And then next thing I knew I was in here and I was like, oh shit, I forgot to kiss my wife. I’m a creature of habit. So I text her. I love you. So then she told me her dream, there he is. There is Mr. Taylor,
David Taylor (04:04):
How you doing
Sevan Matossian (04:05):
Dude? Better than this home Depot.
David Taylor (04:08):
Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (04:09):
You believe that?
David Taylor (04:11):
What? I don’t know what happened.
Sevan Matossian (04:12):
That’s the, I, I live in, um, I live in Santa Cruz, California, which is like, uh, 20 miles south of San Jose, which is like 50 miles south of San Francisco. And this home Depot caught on fire. And I was just thinking like, as a, as a 50 year old, man, I still have a seven year old boy in me that would love to start a fire and throwing a can of WD 40 and watch it explode. But can you imagine that aisle with all the flamable like, can you imagine that place? It’s funny. I hope no one was hurt, but I just, holy cow, it’s that’s epic. Wow. Whole home Depot. It’s a little, boy’s wet dream to just sit there and watch that Crazy. Crazy, crazy. Crazy. Do you have any friends who are firefighters David?
David Taylor (05:01):
Uh, well actually I, I don’t, uh, I don’t really have any friends, but so I was, I mean, I have friends. I have girlfriend
Sevan Matossian (05:07):
Don’t lie. No, you don’t. You’re too busy to have friends well
David Taylor (05:10):
Saying it. So I was running back this morning and so we get tested by USADA every like quarter, you know, and yada was here and the guy who tested me, he is a firefighter in Pittsburgh. So we were actually just talking about that. So, uh, is it ironic that you just asked me about that?
Sevan Matossian (05:24):
I wonder if those guys, I wonder if that’s a cool job, like, oh, you get to meet these people who, your heroes, but on the other hand, you’re like, uh, pull out your genitalia. Okay. Let me see it. Let you that thing operate. Yeah. But on the other hand that guy’s probably so excited to meet David Taylor.
David Taylor (05:39):
Well, you, you get to know him because you spend a ton of time with him, you know? And, uh,
Sevan Matossian (05:43):
You mean why? Cuz it’s the same guy that comes three times a year for the last five years or
David Taylor (05:46):
Pretty much. Yeah. So I’m, I’m I’m once a quarter, but then I’m in like, uh, I’m in the water pool also. So I’m, I get tested I eight or 10 times a year plus competition. So you, but you get to know ’em, you know, you spend a lot of time with them, you know, shooting the shit and sometimes you don’t have to go to the bathroom. So you’re spending a lot longer with them, you know, sometimes it’s quick, today was a pretty quick trip, but they’re good people though. I mean, I think it’s a tough job a little bit like, you know, but I, but cuz they’re on the road, so a lot of ’em job, but they’re all they’re, they’re pretty much all pretty new. Nice. You know, which is,
Sevan Matossian (06:19):
Which is cool. Well it’s, they’re probably stoked that you’re so nice because a lot of the athletes J just don’t um, I’m trying to think who it was that I, that I talked to, some, someone was telling me that like they would come at like, oh it was Matt Fraser. Do you know who Matt Fraser is? He, he was the cross a game champion five times in a row. Wow. Fit his men alive. And anyway, he would tell me that I think it was him. He mentioned that like they would come to his room like at 6:00 AM and he wouldn’t have to pee so that he would just go back to sleep and they would just sit in the room. I’m like, damn Dick move.
David Taylor (06:51):
No joke. One time I, I had just peaked. I was getting ready to leave the house 12:00 AM. And uh, they show up the house. I just peed and you know, tell you what else you take your, you drink your coffee and you gotta take a DOE. Yeah. So then the guy was in there when I was taking a poop and he was like waiting for me and I’m like, dude, I don’t have to pee for a while. I was like, I know I got, I have to wa get in here with you. I’m like, dang, that’s a rough job. Cause I felt bad for him.
Sevan Matossian (07:14):
Yeah. That is a rough job.
David Taylor (07:16):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:17):
Uh, I wanted to be a professional athlete. Oh, how exciting do you know? One of the perks that comes with that is you learn to pee, uh, with people watching you.
David Taylor (07:24):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (07:25):
They don’t tell you that. When is your, how old were you when you got your first drug test?
David Taylor (07:31):
Um, I was in college, so I was the big tens probably. And yeah. You just like you’re P shy, like honestly, see, like you’re just like, this is weird and I had to pee so bad, but I, I couldn’t pee. And uh, so I was like one of the last people there waiting for, uh, waiting to try and like squeeze this pee out and you have to pee so bad, but it’s different when someone’s staring at you. Um,
Sevan Matossian (07:54):
Just so you know, in regards to the cat, um, this is a completely UN, um, inclusive show. Not in the woke sense. We take the vaccinated UN vaccinated, the black, the Jews, we take the malt cats, feed lions dogs. So your cat is more than welcome to, uh, participate. We are, we are a truly inclusive and diverse show.
David Taylor (08:12):
No, she’ll be here. I mean, she Coco’s, uh she’s I got two cats that I’ll probably be up here at some point. We’ll meet ’em Coco. Amazing.
Sevan Matossian (08:21):
For those of you who don’t know, it’s kind of, um, how old are you David?
David Taylor (08:25):
31.
Sevan Matossian (08:26):
Yeah. It’s nuts. It’s nuts. Uh, what you’ve done in your, in your short life? It, um, David has one of those, you know, he has, he has records. Like what were you in high school? You were 180 and two, your, your wrestling record.
David Taylor (08:39):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (08:40):
Um, he won, uh, the, the state championships in junior high and in high school, straight three years, four years, his fourth year as a senior. Um, it wasn’t enough to win his, well first lemme say this somewhere in his high school years, he went from the a hundred, seven pound class to the 135 pound class over the summer, which is just nuts. Um, because winning is everything and screw challenging yourself, but he did that. And then his senior year, he went up to, um, 140 pounds, even though he was 135 pound guy just to really, really, um, test himself. And in action, actually the coolest part of this story is the credit that David gives to his teammate. Um, what was his name? Matt was his name, Matt, the guy who was normally one 40 who went down and took your spot in 1 35 so that you could go up to one 40. That was really cool. When you tell that story, I, I, I just thought that was like showed your character.
David Taylor (09:35):
Yeah. I mean that, so that match. Um, and I appreciate that. So we were wrestling like our big rival. So I went to Graham high school. Our rival was St Ed’s and our whole life growing up. So it was, it was myself and a guy named Colin Palmer. And we had won everything growing up, but we had never been the same lake class. And that year we were both going for our fourth state titles in Ohio. I was, um, we were in the middle division. Um, he was division one. I was division two, there’s, three divisions in Ohio, but we were different weight classes. I was 1 35 co was one 40. So, you know, I just, uh, we were coming home from the tournament the weekend before, and I had thought about this all year. Um, and I went up to my coach, said, Hey, can I go up and wrestl with Colin at one 40? And knowing that it could impact the dual, if I lost that match, like we could lose the dual. Um, and you know, we were to wear, work it out, but we had two brothers, Brian Stevens and Matt Stevens. And, uh, but we were able to work it out where, you know, we could bump the line up around and, uh, and there were some kind of crazy things that happened. And it was, uh,
Sevan Matossian (10:29):
Like what, like what let’s hear
David Taylor (10:30):
It. It’s hard to remember now, but I remember there was a, there was a, how
Sevan Matossian (10:34):
Old, how old were you then? You’re 17,
David Taylor (10:36):
18 senior in high school. Yeah. So probably had just turned 18 in December, so, okay. This was, uh, probably like a January, February dual, um, before one of our last duals. So we had a, a phenom freshman that year. I think I’m pretty sure this was dual me. You’re really dating,
Sevan Matossian (10:53):
Which is weird to hear you call someone a phenom freshman, which is kind of weird.
David Taylor (10:56):
This kid name, his was fleet and Martinez. And he was amazing. Um, he was actually like, we were training partners that year. I was a senior, you know, and he was, he pushed me more than anybody in the country were push, was pushing me that year, you know, as high school. So we were back to back weight classes. He was,
Sevan Matossian (11:13):
Did he come to the school because you were there?
David Taylor (11:16):
No, he moved in, he moved in early. Um, but I mean, he was those kids that’s in like sixth grade, but he weighed 140 pounds and he was beating high school kids in sixth grade and it was 140 pounds in high school, you know? So he was like ready. He was battle tested. He, I mean, he was really good and I’m, I think, I think this is what happened and I can’t remember, but he was wrestling and I think he got disqualified in the match. So basically he would’ve won the match, you know, by a decision, major decision, whatever. And I think he got disqualified. So the other point got, was basically the equivalent of that team getting a pin. So then that was, I think right before I wrestled. So the match with Colin and I got a lot, um, bigger because now the dual is a lot closer than what it would’ve been. Um, and it was pretty epic because, uh, we, you know, for high school gym, you know, there was a thousand people packed in there. This was like before, really like social media. It was way before social media, um, you know, like the, you go back and look the match, like his grainy grainy film, but it’s packed in there. And, uh,
Sevan Matossian (12:17):
Yeah, they were chanting your name. That’s crazy. In high school,
David Taylor (12:20):
It was wild. And, uh, he got the first takedown. Um, and then, you know, I was able to, I think kind escape. I got a takedown later in the match and, um, ended up getting a turn really late. And that was kind of the big difference maker, uh, in that match. And, you know, we both went on to win four state championships that year. And, um, unfortunately with Colin, he had just a lot of injuries. So in college he never was able to really kind of continue wrestling at that level because I just think injuries from growing up and he had some really odd things happen. Um, but now he’s coaching a youth club in Ohio doing really well, um, coaching a high school in, uh, Columbus to sales and you know, it just, I think, you know, all those years of competing with each other, you know, it was, uh, kind of pushed each other to do some really good things. Um, you know, his more on the coaching side.
Sevan Matossian (13:04):
What, what state are you in right now?
David Taylor (13:05):
I live in Pennsylvania.
Sevan Matossian (13:07):
So you, you were, where, where were you born? What state were you born?
David Taylor (13:12):
So my dad was in the military, so I was born in, uh, Reno, Nevada briefly. Right,
Sevan Matossian (13:17):
Right. Then
David Taylor (13:18):
We moved to, uh, Middlebrook, Florida both before I was one. Then my dad was Delta airlines lived in Atlanta, Georgia then moved to Evanston. Wyoming lived in Wyoming then St. Paris, Ohio. And then I’ve, what
Sevan Matossian (13:30):
Is, what does Delta have in, in Evanston, Wyoming? What do they have there?
David Taylor (13:34):
Well, didn and mountains, my dad always wanted to live, you know, my, he, he, uh, he always wanted to live out west. So this is obviously prior to, you know, I was just a kid five years old. Um, but we lived an hour, 45 minutes from the airport. Um, so commute back and forth. So, but he just, we, you know, he really wanted to live in the mountains and, you know, that was just where he decided to, to, to live and, uh, um, it was, and then, so that was kind of like, you know, we moved, I was five, my dad was commuting hour 45 minutes to the airport. He’d go, he’d be gone three, four days a week on his trips, domestic at the time come home, you know, then we, we lived on a farm and we had, you know, on a ranch, we had horses, we had, you know, all kinds of stuff. We had 40 acres. So it was, um, 20 acres, 2040, I don’t know one of those,
Sevan Matossian (14:18):
You ended up moving to 40 in, um, Ohio. That was the next move.
David Taylor (14:22):
That’s, you know, my,
Sevan Matossian (14:23):
I did my research.
David Taylor (14:25):
Yeah. So that’s what it was. We 20, 20 Wyoming. Um, but then I started wrestling and then, you know, as I continued to, you know, evolve, we started driving. So my, I would make that trip to him from work, be traveling all the time and then we’d be driving either. My mom, my dad would be driving hour 45 minutes, one way to practice couple days a week. Um, and it just got, uh, it got a lot. And ultimately that was when we decided in sixth grade moved to Ohio. Cause I left 10 minutes from practice. My dad, so commuted to work, you know, an hour and a half. But, um, but I was 10 minutes of practice. So it was a lot more convenient on my family. You know, at that point,
Sevan Matossian (15:04):
You, you tell a story about how you were able to, because your dad worked at Delta airlines to, to fly for free, um, and, and check out tournaments that maybe other kids couldn’t. So you got a ton of exposure. Are you familiar with a guy out of salt lake city? Actually, I don’t think he’s in salt lake city anymore, but he was, he worked for Delta and he started working there when he was 20. And he went on to become the world’s greatest arm wrestler by far. Um, his name’s John zinc. Do you know who that name?
David Taylor (15:29):
I don’t not till now.
Sevan Matossian (15:30):
Oh, it’s a really cool story. Um, there, there’s a movie about him, um, uh, called pooling John, like pooling, cuz that’s what the, the, uh, in arm wrestling, the, your first move is to pull the guy towards you. Anyway, I made the movie
David Taylor (15:44):
Really
Sevan Matossian (15:45):
Epic movie. I hate to pat myself on the back, but it’s so, it’s so fricking good, took me five years to make it, but, but I just find it fascinating that he also worked at Delta and your dad worked at Delta and both, you were able to parlay that into, uh, into integrate, um, sports. Do you think is, is wrestling fighting?
David Taylor (16:04):
Well, I, I mean, some would say it’s the, you know, it’s the oldest version of martial arts. Um, and I think it’s, there’s an element to it. I think your style depends. So I mean, some people are just like, you know, very physical and they’re wrestling and some people are very technical and they’re wrestling and I think there’s a lot of variance in between that, but I mean, sure you get a fight and you have, if you’re a wrestler, you’re gonna have a big advantage, you know, as long as you don’t get knocked out on that first punch, you’re getting to the ground, you know, you have, yeah. That’s why you see so many MMA guys, so many wrestlers transition to MMA and almost all the MMA champs now have wrestling backgrounds. Um, so I would say it’s, uh, I’d say it’s pretty valuable, you know, and fighting, um,
Sevan Matossian (16:45):
The, the, the thing when I used to, um, I used to wrestle with my sister every single day, you know, just come home from school and we would we’d wrestle, but basically it was fighting, but there were rules. There was the unspoken rule. Don’t pun. You can’t punch in the face, but we would have other rules too. Like you could only use your right arm or you could only use your left arm or you couldn’t use either your arms or, and she was older than me. Um, but wrestling the, the more and more I watch it, I watch a lot of UFC will just every Saturday, but wrestling seems to me is just like fighting with like just rules. Like, so you don’t get your teeth knocked out. And, and like what you did to that a Beja guy, like he didn’t like that You put him in, in a full Nelson to a pin. Like he didn’t, he didn’t like that at all.
David Taylor (17:28):
No, it’s, uh, you know, wrestling is, I mean, it’s just, there’s so many interview.
Sevan Matossian (17:34):
He stayed down, sorry to interrupt David, but he’s stayed down longer than a lot of people stayed down and got knocked out.
David Taylor (17:38):
Yeah. Well, I mean, getting rolled up in the world semi-finals and a half, you know, that’s, uh, that’s not something that people wanna do, you know, that’s as are, those are not very, very fun situations. Um, but you know, I’d rather be on that side of it than the other side
Sevan Matossian (17:54):
Does when he does that, when he stays down and he’s playing with his shoulders a little bit. Is that more, um, could he, could he have gotten injured there or is that more just ego? He’s just check. He’s just can’t believe what just happened.
David Taylor (18:07):
Yeah, no, I mean that, in that situation, you know, when you have an arm bar and a half, it’s just tight, you know, it’s like, you don’t have, you don’t have a lot of where’s ways to go except to your back, you know? And, uh, it’s just more like, I just got stacked up in the world finals. Uh, I gotta make it look like something got hurt when I got pinned, because right. You know, it’s kind how you have to rationalize it, I guess, in your head,
Sevan Matossian (18:30):
That guy looks huge compared to you.
David Taylor (18:33):
Uh, I mean, I, he was tall, you know, he’s a tall guy, I think for me, like I’m in my weight class 86, kilo is 189 pounds. Um, I’m definitely the, I would say the biggest, if not one of the biggest in weight class, you know, I, I walk around right around 200, but it’s the lifestyle that I live, you know? So my body at 200, you know, like I’m, I’m pretty lean, I’m a little over six feet tall. Um, so it’s like, I’m, I’m I’m well, a lot of these guys, a lot of these foreigners, they’re not very, they don’t live that lifestyle. Like they’re great. Wrestlers.
Sevan Matossian (19:02):
Tell me what you mean by that lifestyle. Like they don’t eat like a meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, little starch, no sugar, like go to bed on time. All that shit.
David Taylor (19:09):
No. Oh, no one in the world does that, you know, like, I mean, even, even in very few people, I mean the guy nutrition element has become so more, so much more prominent, you know, especially in like combat sports, you know, before it was like barbaric, like, oh, I’m gonna cut all this crazy weight and I’m gonna drink beer and I’m gonna do this. And I’m gonna think I can go perform really well. You can see now, like you’re an ma guy. You can see the guys still do that because they look bloated, their body looks soft. They don’t look right. The people that live a lifestyle, their body is lean and chiseled. Um, and that maybe they have that weight to SIM, but there’s a, there’s a proper way to do it and to refuel your body. Um, and I would say internationally, you know, they’re just not, um, that’s just not something they prioritize.
David Taylor (19:48):
They just, they’re the way they train. And the way that, that I train is way different. You know, mine’s very professional, very like regimented, like I’m gonna work on these days. I’m gonna recover on these days. I’m gonna eat these things. I’m gonna recover. Especially now that I’m 31 years old. I have two kids, my wife and I manage multiple businesses. Like my life’s busy. So I have to be very regimented in those things. Those guys are just kind of waking up, going to the gym and they’re a it’s on talent. Um, and the ones that do more are the ones that are very successful consistently. Um, so I think that’s why when you see wrestling or you see fighting, they might be the same weight class, but you’re like, man, that guy looks so much bigger. It’s not really that they’re that much bigger. It’s just that person’s body physique can composition whether it’s naturally gifted or they just prioritize. Is that stuff a little bit more is why you see that?
Sevan Matossian (20:37):
Thank you, Caleb. I saw you changed his name to his Instagram account. Caleb, David, David, Caleb.
David Taylor (20:41):
How’s it going? Caleb and
Sevan Matossian (20:42):
David, if, if you need anything like a glass of water or you have any questions about the us air force, um, he’s in the air force, uh, he, he can do all that. You need your name changed, or you wanna see a video clip of when you were six. Caleb can do all that. I just, I got a little window here. I saw, he just popped up and sat down in the back. He’s such a good dude, such a good dude. Hey, how, how, how does, how do you meet, how did you meet your wife? What your wife’s name,
David Taylor (21:07):
Kendra.
Sevan Matossian (21:08):
How do you meet? How do you have time to meet a girl in like, in like, uh, cultivate a relationship?
David Taylor (21:15):
Uh, I mean, I, I wasn’t, um, I wasn’t probably as intense when I was younger, you know, I was, I was very driven with wrestling, um, and I was intense, but I, I definitely,
Sevan Matossian (21:25):
What do you mean intense? What do you mean intense?
David Taylor (21:28):
Um, well, I mean obviously when, when, before, you know, I, I always wanted to be a great wrestler, but you know, you, you have different, you know, kind of priorities when you’re younger, you know? And obviously I think when, but when I wrestled my wife or I wrestled my wife when I was a kid, that was how we met. So when we were, um, so her family, wow.
Sevan Matossian (21:46):
Yeah, this is better than I thought.
David Taylor (21:47):
Yeah, it’s pretty good. So my, my, uh, my wife’s family, great wrestler. So her brother, Jimmy Kennedy was, um, multiple time, all American university of Illinois, great youth wrestler, um, is now a coach at Penn state. Wow. They just used, lived, moved out here. So we all live in the same area. Now, her younger brother, great athlete, great wrestler, state champion in high school. Uh, he wrestled at the university of Michigan. So growing up like you are all in the same circuit and my wife wrestled, and she was a great wrestler too, but at the time women’s wrestling hadn’t really taken off. So she was really good. Her dad was just like, well, you’re just gonna do what Jimmy’s doing and what Cameron’s doing. Um, and she was wrestling, gonna practice battling bloody noses, you know, broken collarbone and, uh, you know, going out and battling. And we wrestled at a, so as a kid, there were like three major tournaments. It was, you had a tournament in, in November called the, the cliff king kickoff classic. You had a January one called Tulsa nationals. And then you had one in April called Reno world. And if you won one of those tournaments, you were really
Sevan Matossian (22:50):
Are. One were one of those, the iron man that I keep seeing in all the videos about you or no, that’s a different one
David Taylor (22:54):
Different one. That’s a high school tournament. Okay. So these are new tournaments.
Sevan Matossian (22:57):
So you, sorry, sorry. Okay.
David Taylor (23:00):
6, 8, 10, 12, 15, and under divisions and okay. Um, very competitive. And if you won all three of them, you would win this thing called a Trinity award. And that was like rare, you know, to win all three of those award. But, and there, there wasn’t a, it wasn’t super saturated at the time. Like there wasn’t like, like now there’s 100 youth national tournaments. So to say, you’re a national champion, you could go to a hundred back then. It was basically those three, like you won those. Those were the big deal. So we, we were at, um, Reno and I wrestled Kendra and the core, her finals of this tournament. So she,
Sevan Matossian (23:32):
No shit.
David Taylor (23:33):
She already beat a couple good people.
Sevan Matossian (23:35):
Had you ever seen her before?
David Taylor (23:37):
So I knew her. So I, you, you knew that no, Ken, I knew, no. We knew my family was friends with, with her family. You know, like Jimmy was a stud, he was always like the way, you know, he was always battling like the age group above me, Cameron,
Sevan Matossian (23:47):
How close did they live to you? Sorry, I keep interrupting David, but that’s just bad habit of mine. Blame my mind. No, it’s fine. How close did she live to you?
David Taylor (23:54):
They lived in Illinois. Um,
Sevan Matossian (23:57):
And you were in Ohio. So when you say you knew them, it’s not like they came over for dinner shit. You just saw ’em at tournaments, these
David Taylor (24:02):
Tournaments. Cause like you’re, you know, you are in the same, you like all the best kids, one of the same events. Okay. You know, you go into the same camps and clinics or whatever you’re going to. Um, so we wrestled in the quarter finals that morning. It was wild. So that morning I woke up and I had my first ever back spasm. I couldn’t tie my shoes.
Sevan Matossian (24:21):
I thought you were gonna say your first ever wet dream. God, I was really hoping you were gonna that.
David Taylor (24:27):
Uh, so I can’t count my shoes. I can’t put my socks on.
Sevan Matossian (24:30):
How old are you?
David Taylor (24:32):
Uh, I was, it was 10 and I think 10 and under. So I was probably
Sevan Matossian (24:35):
10 years old and having back spasms. Yeah.
David Taylor (24:38):
I was like nine, 10 years old, whatever it was. And I’m like nervous, really nervous because you wrestling girl, you never wanted to lose to a girl. Yeah. I can’t tie my shoes. I have a heat pad on my back, you know, and basically my dad’s like, you better toughen up. Could
Sevan Matossian (24:54):
No shit.
David Taylor (24:55):
You need to like, you know, be ready to go. Um, and then I guess
Sevan Matossian (25:00):
I would be scared if I was your dad.
David Taylor (25:02):
I, my dad’s a very anxious guy, so I know he was like, I, I know he had an element in his back of his head. Like my son could lose to this girl.
Sevan Matossian (25:11):
No, I’d be worried about your back. I wouldn’t be worried about
David Taylor (25:14):
That. No, no, no. I don’t. He was just like, suck it up, quit being a woo. You know, basically what his, his response was. Um, I, you know, I don’t know, guess I just I’ll enter, like, can’t let this happen. I went out and pin her in like 30 seconds.
Sevan Matossian (25:28):
So, and was your back still tight when you went out there and it just goes away for a second because of adrenaline and then comes back soon as you’re done?
David Taylor (25:34):
Yeah. I mean, I, I dealt with a lot of back issues my whole career, and that was the first time I ever like was an issue. Like I was at a competition and this wasn’t right. Um, and let’s see
Sevan Matossian (25:47):
Bye and, and,
David Taylor (25:49):
Uh,
Sevan Matossian (25:49):
Have a good day. Yeah, Bye.
David Taylor (25:53):
She, so, yeah, but she ended up, I think, coming back and getting like third or fourth place in that tournament. So
Sevan Matossian (25:58):
She did, did she just hear, hear you tell the story about whooping her ass? Yeah.
David Taylor (26:02):
Yeah. She said she got third place, so yeah. Find that bracket sheet and her dad says she has the, the film. So when we got married, like when he was giving his speech, he said he was gonna give it to me. I need that VI video, but he still doesn’t. He still hasn’t handed it over.
Sevan Matossian (26:18):
So you’re and, and tell me her name again,
David Taylor (26:20):
Her name’s Kendra.
Sevan Matossian (26:21):
Kendra. So, um, did you, did you feel anything, um, for her at 10 years old?
David Taylor (26:29):
Well, I just think, you know, like, I don’t really remember that moment, but her dad made her send this like a school picture and on the back said, you know, love Kendra basically. And that was
Sevan Matossian (26:40):
After that match,
David Taylor (26:41):
After that match. Yeah. And my parent, my dad and her dad had this like arranged joking marriage. Like that one day we would like have super babies.
Sevan Matossian (26:49):
Yeah.
David Taylor (26:50):
And, you know, I funny because that’s, uh, you know, hopefully the way that it’s gonna work itself out. But then I was in study hall when I was in high school. So my senior year I had like a bunch of study halls because I was taking a lot of online classes, so I could to travel and do things. And I get this ding on, you know, obviously I was on Facebook, I wasn’t doing my homework and I get this ding and I’m like, Kendra Kennedy wants to be your friend. I’m like, wow, no way. This is the girl. This girl’s smoking hot. There’s no way. This is the girl I wrestled when I was a kid. And of course I was hitting a message and we’re joking back and forth. And I’m like, and I kind of go through a profile realized, yeah, this is the same girl. And I came home and told my dad, my dad will never believe like, who messaged me on Facebook? Who are you doing on Facebook? I’m like,
David Taylor (27:31):
You know, and, uh, then we just kind of started becoming really good friends. Like we just like talk on the phone. Like I was in a pretty regimented schedule when I was a kid. Like my parents, like no joke would be like, you can talk on the phone from nine to nine 30, be at night, you need to go to bed. So I would be on the phone at nine, nine thirty and they’d be coming down like, Dave, you need get off the phone. I’d be talking to Kendra, like hiding under my pillow, you know? So we just became really good friends, like, you know, through my senior year and year in college. And then, um, I read shirted, she went to university, the Illinois and was running track, um, and was, had a, uh, her, she had a bone spur Achilles, and it basically shreded it. So, you know, it ended her career. So they went and shaved, you know, cut her Achilles, shaved her bone. And she could never really compete after that. Um, I read sure that year, and then the next year we started dating and then we just dated all through college. And then, uh, we got married in 2016 and now we got two beautiful girls. My oldest will be two.
Sevan Matossian (28:26):
You sure do.
David Taylor (28:28):
And my youngest will be, uh, well, six months. So it’s, uh, it’s kind of crazy how it all happens.
Sevan Matossian (28:33):
Let’s say this is the, the heel of the foot just sitting in here. And, and then this, this, so the Achilles is that tendon that comes down right attached the big old thick one in the back. So you’re saying behind there, somewhere she got own spur. And because of the shape of the bone spur started cutting into Achilles.
David Taylor (28:49):
Yeah. Cause she, so she, when she stopped, she stopped wrestling. Um, when she was in seventh grade, just because, you know, girls wrestling, wasn’t really a thing. And you know, she was a pretty girl and was tired of getting bloody noses. So her dad’s like, all right, are you gonna run track? You know? So she, she ran track and she was really good. She was, um, she second, well, she actually got second in the state, um, and got disqualified because she stepped on the line, you know, while running. So, you know, she was really competitive. She’s a super athlete, very competitive. Um, and, uh, but yeah, so, and she was, she was, however time she was running, that thing was just like shredding her Achilles and it was super painful. And then they cut it, she of the bone reattached it. Um, and it’s just like, it’s real, you know, you, you, it was, Achill become, are now very common, but you know, back then 10 years ago, you know, the technology was different. Um, and, uh, it’s
Sevan Matossian (29:39):
A trip that your own body would do that to you. Yeah. It’s messed up. Yeah. I wanna show you something. You just said something that, um, I, I saw this the other day. I have a live calling show where just people calling live. I have no guests. I do it like once a week. And, and I always like whenever I see stuff, I, I pick it and I show it on live calling show. So I was gonna show this on my live calling show.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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